The ability to construct and maintain a structured multicellular bacterial community depends
critically on the production of extracellular matrix components (1, 2). While the biofilm matrix …

Gene expression in bacteria relies on promoter recognition by the DNA-dependent RNA
polymerase and subsequent transcription initiation. Bacterial cells are able to tune their …

From protists to humans, all animals and plants are inhabited by microbial organisms. There
is an increasing appreciation that these resident microbes influence the fitness of their plant …

Bacteria have a range of distinct immune strategies that provide protection against
bacteriophage (phage) infections. While much has been learned about the mechanism of …

Bacterial genomes are remarkably stable from one generation to the next but are plastic on
an evolutionary time scale, substantially shaped by horizontal gene transfer, genome …

Gene expression occurs in two essential steps: transcription and translation. In bacteria, the
two processes are tightly coupled in time and space, and highly regulated. Tight regulation …

Highlights•Bacterial genomes contain C 5-methyl-cytosine, N 4-methyl-cytosine, and N 6-
methyl-adenine.•Base methylation controls DNA–protein interactions.•DNA methylation …

Bacterial virulence is highly dynamic and context-dependent. For this reason, it is
challenging to predict how molecular changes affect the growth of a pathogen in a host and …

Antibiotic-resistant isolates of Salmonella enterica were selected on plates containing lethal
concentrations of rifampicin, kanamycin, and nalidixic acid. The stability of the resistance …

The role that epigenetic inheritance can play in adaptation may differ between sexuals and
asexuals because (1) the dynamics of adaptation differ under sexual and asexual …